Who Should be Aston Villa Manager ? Now with new, revised poll

[andyh]

I'm getting a wee bit concerned with these posts suggesting we should go for Martinez.

The one thing he has going for him is his style of football and perhaps the fact he is a very nice guy. Gerard Houllier attempted to play good football and was also a nice guy. If you look at Martinez's Wigan team you have probably the worst users of Kamikaze defending in the premier league. He has signed two defenders in the Caldwell brothers who make Zat Knight look like Baresi. If we thought our defence was bad this season he might make it a lot worse. As manager of Wigan he has battled relegation in each season in charge despite having players of genuine quality in N'Zogbia, McCarthy and Rodallega probably because of the Mitsubishi Zero pilots he calls a defence. They even have had good goalkeepers like Kirkland and Al Habsi who shipped huge numbers of goals. Other Wigan managers have done as well but guys like Bruce and Jewell are not being mentioned because they have been proven wanting. I'd love to be wrong as he seems like a really nice, intelligent guy and writing this post feels like kicking a puppy but I just don't see anything that makes me think he will be a better choice than say Hughes or Rafa let alone Ancelotti.

Thank you.
This is spot on re: Martinez.
A nice guy he may be, but are we really in the position where we want to gamble on whether someone who 'may' have potential 'might' step up to a bigger role.

I could see a Graham Turner situation all over again.

No, we are an established Premier League side, who (3 seasons out of the last 4) have flirted with Champions League qualification.

We should be looking to appoint someone who has the experience of operating at the top and canl take us that extra step and push on to better things.

Ancellotti for me - everyday.       

[eastie]

john henry has said he will back dalglish financially with big money this summer and they didnt buy the club to finish top 4 but to finish top- id expect them to invest very heavily in their side this summer,randy doesnt have a bottomless pit and we have a lot of rebuilding to do as chris has rightly pointed out.

[Chris Smith]

Liverpool have a pretty major rebuild on their hands, too.

Do you think so? They need to bring players in but I don't see them having to replace half the first team which is where we are.

[ozzjim]

If so and it would appear Downing has had his head turned, then 25 million for Downing will come in handy for the new man rebuilding this summer.

My issue with Hughes is I fear we would be shopping continuously in the MON shops for the next 3 years again. With Houllier there was a sense of a culture shift that COULD take us forward over time. With Hughes, I fear that would come to a shuddering halt.

[Merv]

We've deviated somewhat. The counter argument to Mark's post is that we've seen, very recently, that a club with CL ambitions - and qualifying for the CL must be the target for Liverpool next season - have been in a position to appoint a new manager, and they've chosen Kenny Dalglish, a man with very little Champions League management experience, certainly not for ten years.

Does this mean Liverpool can't reach the CL again? Of course not. Liverpool have gone for the manager who they feel suits them best. So I don't accept that appointing a Moyes or a Hughes instead of an Ancelotti means we can't make progress as a club.

[Concrete John]

Interesting choice of words given that Ancelotti didn't do this either and instead was apointed manager of an established CL club.

I'm on record as saying I'd go for Moyes if I was Randy and won't change that now, although in honesty I'd also want to sound Ancelotti out and see if he would be committed to the longterm building up of the club.

That's a pretty weak argument John.  Yes they were already in the CL places but he kept them there.  I would have far more faith in him to get us there and keep us there than Moyes or Hughes, who have managed CL qualification once between them and not at all since 2004/5.  If that's where we are aiming to be, and I agree with you that we are (and should), then Moyes and Hughes simply have not done enough to convince me that they have the ability to do it.

With the emergence of Man City we're going to have our hands full just trying to finish 5th / 6th, let alone get into the CL.  So I think it will take someone markedly better than Moyes or Hughes to help us do that.

And keeping Chelsea there is a lot different to getting Villa there.  Even if it was in 2005, what Moyes did with Everton that year is as close as we're going to get to what we need, other than the barrow boy down at Spurs.

If you think Ancelotti would be a better bet than Moyes then fair enough - I'm not saying you're wrong and do think he's a very strong candidate.  However, what he did with Chelsea and AC Milan is very different to the challenges the next Villa manager will face and our search needs to take more into account.   

[TheMitaCopier]

let's bring in Sven, he can get us beckham you know ( fake sheik flashback )

[Concrete John]

Meaning that your suggestion that they wouldn't be looking at Moyes or Hughes is nonsense. Meaning that you don't have to have already been in the CL to qualify for it. Meaning that it was the right appointment for the situation Spurs found themselves in at the time.

Mark's point was who would they appoint if they were managerless today.  They wouldn't appoint Moyes or Hughes.

How do we know that?  The Scouse rivalry may rule out Liverpool, but I'd think Moyes would be a strong candidate for Spurs if it became available.

[hilts_coolerking]

Liverpool have a pretty major rebuild on their hands, too.

Do you think so? They need to bring players in but I don't see them having to replace half the first team which is where we are.

I think a lot of incomings and outgoings would happen anyway, as part of the churn you get when a new manager comes in.  If anyone is going to re-energise those who didn't get on with Houllier, or who are half thinking they need to move to win things, I think it would be someone of Ancelotti's calibre.  On top of that, I think he would be able to attract better players to the club than Moyes or Hughes would.

[eastie]

Meaning that your suggestion that they wouldn't be looking at Moyes or Hughes is nonsense. Meaning that you don't have to have already been in the CL to qualify for it. Meaning that it was the right appointment for the situation Spurs found themselves in at the time.

Mark's point was who would they appoint if they were managerless today.  They wouldn't appoint Moyes or Hughes.

How do we know that?  The Scouse rivalry may rule out Liverpool, but I'd think Moyes would be a strong candidate for Spurs if it became available.

I think moyes and hughes would both be strong candidates for spurs should harry leave.

[hilts_coolerking]

How do we know that?  The Scouse rivalry may rule out Liverpool, but I'd think Moyes would be a strong candidate for Spurs if it became available.

Because they want CL football and / or trophies and Moyes and Hughes have a proven track record of not delivering that (except once) while playing not particularly scintillating football.

[monkeyboy]

This situation is like knowing two girls you want to ask out. One is average looking, presentable but you could potential have a good time with her (Hughes). The other one has class, humour and whatever happens you know you will have a great time with her (Ancellotti). Mr Lerner Aston Villa fans want a really good time ..........

Just pick the one with the biggest tits...

i refuse to go to spend any time with West Ham!

[Phil from the upper holte]

Please not mark Hughes

[Chris Smith]

How do we know that?  The Scouse rivalry may rule out Liverpool, but I'd think Moyes would be a strong candidate for Spurs if it became available.

Because they want CL football and / or trophies and Moyes and Hughes have a proven track record of not delivering that (except once) while playing not particularly scintillating football.

As I said earlier that argument would have stopped them appointing Redknapp.

[hilts_coolerking]

As I said earlier that argument would have stopped them appointing Redknapp.

And as Mark said earlier, the point was about who they'd appoint today.